Town halls spending restrictions need amending

Town Hall

Town halls in the Balearics amassed a combined surplus last year of 488.8 million euros. This is money that they cannot spend because of national government budgetary stability regulation.

The Balearic parliament, conscious of this regulation having been made law by the former Partido Popular government in Madrid, has voted in favour of amending the law. PSOE, Més and Podemos members of parliament voted yes, there were no votes against and 21 abstentions by PP and Ciudadanos members.

The surplus is at its highest in Alcudia - 56 million euros. Palma's is 17.7 million. On other islands, Mahon has an 8.3 million surplus. As well as a legislative amendment to loosen the restrictions on using surplus cash, parliament has called for a revision of rules regarding the acquisition of debt in instances where town halls have healthy finances and accounts.

Madrid is therefore being asked to "reformulate" regulations in an a progressive manner in order to permit greater flexibility in the use of revenues generated in the Balearics and in other regions of the country. Andreu Alcover, spokesperson for PSOE, observes that the surplus issue is not political in the sense that town halls governed by different parties share the wish to be able to use money for investment.